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A paper on the triangle fire
A paper on the triangle fire
A paper on the triangle fire
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Rebecca Mehlin
September 22, 2014
Triangle Response Paper On March 25, 1911, the deadliest industrial fire in Manhattan, New York City history occurred, forever changing the view Americans held regarding factory workers and safety. One-hundred and forty-six workers, primarily young women immigrants, perished when flames overtook the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York’s Greenwich Village. Especially on the seventh, eighth, and ninth floors of the Asch building, one would find overcrowded rooms with rows of sewing machines, workers, and their materials. As panicked workers scrambled to find safety from the rising flames, they would soon discover that only one exit door was unlocked; a fire escape apparatus reaching only to the sixth floor.
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He starts the novel with characters such as Clara Lemlich, “a draper at Louis Leiserson’s waist factory” (page 7). As the story continues to progress, Von Drehle uses character development to aid in the representation of perseverance. For example, the workers were treated extremely poorly but had to push through the hard times in order to survive, “at the end of each day, the factory workers had to line up at a single unlocked exit to be searched like thieves” (page 7). Although the workers endured more hardships and unfair treatment at the workplace than many people today could find imaginable, they were able to push through and reach the light at the end of the long dark …show more content…
Women, such as Alva Belmont, we from the upper class of New York City and could have very easily watched without intervening. Rather that remain silent, women such as Belmont stepped in to help push for change for the working class. Von Drehle highlights the fact that people began to understand the problems plaguing America went far beyond unsatisfied workers and would require group efforts in order to accomplish social reform. Von Drehle’s emphasis on women’s role regarding the efforts and successes of women during the time period represents to most important theme of women in the early twentieth
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire not only affected the city of New York, but also the rest of the country. It forever changed the way our country would look at safety regulations in factories and buildings. The fire proved to America what can and will happen if we over-look safety regulations and over-crowd buildings. Unfortunately, 146 lives are taken before we fully understand this concept.
In the book “The Triangle Fire: A Brief History with Documents” by Jo Ann E. Argersinger. In a short summary this book talks about the tragic factory fire that took lives of 146 workers in New York City, March 25, 1911. The tragedy happened during the great uprising of a women revolution, of many young females going to work to support their families. During this period many women wanted to be treated and work like how men worked. Having equal rights at jobs that were a risk to them, nothing stopped the uprising, until the fire became a change. Both sympathy and rage among all sectors of the American public got up to fight for a change. Argersinger examines in the context, trajectory, and impact of this Progressive Era event. During the Progressive Era, many big changes were being
Near closing time on Saturday afternoon, March 25, 1911, in New York City a fire broke out on the top floors of the Asch Building in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. One of the worst tragedies in American history it was know as the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. It was a disaster that took the lives of 146 young immigrant workers. A fire that broke out in a cramped sweatshop that trapped many inside and killed 146 people.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire most of all impacted all forms of industry, and changed the way workers worked. Along with the legislations that impacted women and children, laws also centered on the safety and well being of all workers. One of the main reforms and changes came through the formation of the New York Factory Investigating Commission, or the FIC: a legislative body that investigated the manufacturers for various infractions. They were based on protecting the workers: both their rights and their lives. The FIC investigated countless factories and “enacted eight laws covering fire safety, factory inspections and sanitation.” The FIC was highly focused on the health and safety of industrial workers, making reports and legislation that focused on “fire safety, building construction, machine guarding, heating, lighting, ventilation, and other topics” and on specific industries like “chemicals, lead trades, metal trades, printing shops, sweatshops and mercantile establishments.” Thirteen out of seventeen of the bills submitted by the FIC became laws, and “included measures requiring better fire safety efforts, more adequate factory ventilation, improved sanitation and machine guarding, safe operation of elevators” and other legislations focused for specific establishments.” Fire safety and new fire codes such as “mandate emergency exits, sprinkler systems, and maximum-occupancy laws,” such as the Fire Prevention Act of 1911, were put into place to limit the likelihood that another fire like the one at Triangle would occur, or be as drastic and deathly. Other organizations like the Joint Board of Sanitary Control “set and maintain standards of sanitation in the workplace,” as well as actually enforcing these stand...
The book, TRIANGLE The Fire that Changed America, written by David Von Drehle, is set in New York City primarily in the tenements of the Lower East Side and in Greenwich Village. The story provides a detailed account of life as an immigrant during the early 1900s, the garment workers strikes, the corrupt political structure of the time, several eye witness accounts of the blaze that killed 146, the missing safety procedures that could have saved them, the trial that attempted to bring the owners to justice and finally the political change and work force standards that came about as a result of the tragic event.
“The ‘Triangle’ company, “With blood this name will be written in the history of the American workers’ movement, and with feeling will this history recall the names of the strikers of this shop- of the crusaders” (Von Drehle 86). Even before it happen, the Forward predicted the terrible disaster of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory that occurred one year, one month, and seventeen days later (86). Triangle: The Fire that Changed America, by David Von Drehle tells the story of the horrible fire.
On March 25 ,1911 The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York city was burned becoming one of the deadliest industrial disaster in the United States history .Killing one hundred and forty six workers ,the majority of them women young as fourteen years old .Many of this women were immigrants that came to America for a better life,but before they could either they felt death or burned to death.Causing a big chaos on New York City during the Industrialization Era.
To begin with, there are many events in United States history that have shaped our general understanding of women’s involvement in economics, politics, the debates of gender and sexuality, and so forth. Women for many centuries have not been seen as a significant part of history, however under thorough analyzation of certain events, there are many women and woman-based events responsible for the progressiveness we experience in our daily lives as men, women, children, and individuals altogether. Many of these events aid people today to reflect on the treatment of current individuals today and to raise awareness to significant issues that were not resolved or acknowledged in the past.
“Terrible forces seemed out of control and the nation seemed imperiled. Farmers and workers had been waging political war against capitalists and political conservatives for decades, but then, slowly, toward the end of the nineteenth century a new generation of middle class Americans interjected themselves into public life and advocated new reforms to tame the runaway world of the Gilded Age” (American Yawp). Until one of the major tragedy happened known as the Triangle Shirtwaist were the factory was caught fire and many women had died or were injured. Events such as the Triangle Shirtwaist fire convinced many Americans of the need for reform, but the energies of activists were needed to spread a new commitment to political activism and government interference in the economy” (American Yawp). This is similar to the documentary video, A Dangerous Business, because, “workers had become injured in the McWane Corporation, safety was sacrificed to increase productivity” (Frontline/ Bergman). “Few years passed till OSHA found many violations but still owners would still put their workers at risk breaking violations time passed and suddenly they had too many violations that McWane had spent $5 million to develop a self-contaminated water treatment system, eliminated hazards, hired
MacLean, Nancy. A. The American Women's Movement, 1945-2000. A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, a.k.a.
New York City in the early 20th Century was a place where immigrants came to work and to start a new life in America. During that time, over twelve million immigrants came to the United States, and most of them worked in factories or in hard labor jobs (liberty). One of the many jobs available to immigrants was in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, which was owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris. The conditions at this factory were unsanitary and cruel just like in many other factories and sweatshops of that time. Workers were treated and paid unfairly. On March 11th, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory killing nearly two-hundred women, men, and children. This essay will explain the tragic events that led to the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, the women’s strike, and unfair wages during the late 1910s.
The fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was a monumental and crucial event in American History for many reasons. It took place on March 25 1911 and in the horrendous events of the fire 146 people lost their lives. The quality of the workplace was poor and ended up being dangerous enough that it lead to the catastrophic fire that changed the way factories operate as well as individual lives forever. The oppression that the women and immigrants experienced in the workplace and in society was greatly affected in the aftermath of the fire.
Schneider, Dorothy. American Women in the Progressive Era 1900-1920. New York: Facts on File, 1993.
The Triangle Fire made a lasting impact on the future of America. March 25th, 1911, a day that changed everything. Fire engulfed the three stories of the Triangle Waist Company. Family members, firemen, and friends could only watch by the sidelines as 146 girls and boys perished. The vision of girls jumping from the windows to escape being burned alive, broke down even the most seasoned Fire Chief sending him down to the street with quivering lips. In 1910, 13 weeks on strike most companies accepted the unions’ demands but Triangle Waist Company denied the union, giving higher wages and shorter hours. If Triangle Waist Company had accepted the union, would the 146 girls and boys lived? The fire was a terrible tragedy that will never be forgotten but it changed the Industrial life. Following the Fire there was industrial reform, passing of legislation, and it led to women’s suffrage.
It was a brilliant move by Von Drehle to introduce us to the victims, survivors and political figures of this time. Von Drehle was able to entwine the reader into the lives of the individuals so they could feel a personal connection to each one. His detail of the strike against the factories and the women that led them, the fire at the garment factory and the gruesome details of death and the heroism of others, and the trial afterward that would show how corrupt